The Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee was the most-visited US National Park in 2013, with about 9.54 million visitors, according to the US National Park Service. Second place went to the Grand Canyon with 4.6 million visitors, while Yosemite National Park was placed third. In total, more than 273.6 million people visited the 401 National Parks in the United States in 2013 – 9.1 million fewer than in 2012. National Park officials blamed a 16-day government shutdown in October for the downturn. In addition to public institutions, nearly all Parks were closed during a factional squabble in Congress over the passage of a Federal budget.
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